Sinn Fein came under fire in the Dail tonight from senior politicians over attempts to compel the Republic to become a neutral state.
Former Progressive Democrats minister, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said the party had "some nerve" lecturing constitutional parties in the Dail on neutrality and peace.
She described the attempts by Sinn Fein to alter the Republic's constitution as a masterpiece of irony.
Ms O'Donnell said the best contribution the party could make to peace in Ireland was to "get on with decommissioning republican guns and semtex".
"By this Bill, Sinn Fein would shackle the state and the Government's legitimate management of our security and our international obligations," the former junior minister for Foreign Affairs told the Dail.
"They would undermine our ability to act in support of our constitutional commitments.
"Such a disabling of our democratic institutions and of our constitutional principles has obvious parallels with the republican movement's failed attempt to subvert the state by violence over many years.
"How ironic that what Sinn Fein failed to achieve by violence they now seek to achieve by law.
"Most deputies would agree with me that the best contribution that Sinn Fein can make to peace in Ireland, and peace internationally, is to get on with decommissioning republican guns and semtex, as envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, to cooperate with legitimate police forces, and to participate in policing in Northern Ireland, and to discontinue their dubious international networks and activities.
"Most people would agree that Sinn Fein has some nerve lecturing constitutional parties in Dail Eireann on neutrality and peace."
Ms O'Donnell said she welcomed the party's first attempt to enact a Bill under the Irish constitution, but added: "Such a pity that their first effort is a masterpiece of irony."
Sinn Fein is attempting to bring in a clause which would enshrine neutrality in the republic's constitution "in a meaningful sense".